Newsletters

 Friday 19th May, 2023

I've enjoyed seeing all the year 3 children dressed in their Egyptian costumes today and I hope they had a brilliant day in school. My thanks go to all the staff and parents involved in the day and to all parents and carers for the wonderful costumes. 

The children really enjoy and remember such days, and it is important to have these experiences as part of our curriculum. During the week, they also enjoyed the extra singing sessions with Jenny; singing is a key component of our music curriculum and has so many benefits, including supporting well-being. The staff certainly felt energised after the singing training session. 

At the Friends meeting on Wednesday afternoon, we started to discuss the upcoming Friends' Summer Fete. If you feel that you may be able to help on the day (7th July), please get in touch via the school office. The offers of help would be very much appreciated. 

On Tuesday morning, we are hosting coffee morning for Year 3 & 4 parents. The teachers will be on hand during the morning to have a chat to about any aspect of school and a member of the senior team will also be present. There will be an opportunity for your child or children to join you and to show you some of their work.  

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend.  

Kind regards

Matt Walton, Headteacher 

May

Tue 23rd May - Coffee morning - Year 3 & 4 staff (9am -10am)

Wed 24th May - Pupil Ambassadors visiting the Foodbank

Thu 25th May - Year 4 Castle trip

Thu 25th May - Year 6 Crucial Crew visit

w/c 29th May - half-term holiday

June

Mon 5th June - back to school

Tue 6th June - Year 5 visiting Banham Zoo 

Mon 12th June - Class photos

Wed 14th June - Year 4 Church visit (pm)

 

Mental Health Awareness Week

This week has been national Mental Health Awareness week. The aim of this week has been to shine a light on mental health and in particular the area of anxiety. Throughout the week we have been discussing anxiety – how it might feel, what it might mean and how we can help people who are feeling anxious. We talked about how anxiety is a normal emotion and that different things can lead to feeling it. These can include big life events but can also include things like falling out with friends or starting something new.

There are six strategies that the Mentally Healthy Schools poster 'How are you feeling today?' highlight that we all agree can help to either prevent of reduce feeling anxious...

1) Talk to someone we trust about how we are feeling.

2) Go outside and get some fresh air.

3) Listen to our favourite music (or podcast).

4) Keep active by running around or playing games.

5) Eating healthy foods and drinking plenty of water.

6) Getting a good night's sleep.

Here are some thoughts from the activities we have been doing this week to raise awareness of mental health and anxiety…

“I enjoyed choosing which shape to use to show all the things about me. I chose a trainer because it had lots of space for me to show the things I do to help when I feel anxious” Hayleigh (Year 4)

“I like listening to the song ‘Misery’ (by Madness) in assembly because it showed that when you think positive thoughts you can sometimes change the way you feel” Alfie (Year 4)

“We liked the mindful colouring we did. It showed that we can do things to help when we feel anxious. We had a choice of positive statements that would help us feel better about things. They were things like ‘I am brave’ and ‘I will always keep trying’ which we thought would help someone who was feeling anxious” Rose and Leo (Year 5)

There is more information about anxiety in the ‘Mental Health Awareness’ section on our website. You will also find information about how to help with wellbeing and mental health in the ‘Wellbeing & mental health’ section.

If you have any concerns about mental health, please come in and speak to a member of staff. They will be able to help direct you to right place for support.

 

Year 3 Ancient Egyptian Day

Today saw Year 3 invaded by a swarm of Ancient Egyptians coming to spend the day discovering the wonders of Ancient Egypt. We had Ancient Egyptian Gods, Pharaohs, Cleopatras and one or two mummies. Thanks for all your hard work with the costumes – everyone looked amazing. The day, which has been planned entirely by the Year 3 team, included a variety of wonderful activities throughout the day. The day’s activities included: making amulets, creating clay sarcophagi, designing salt dough scarab beetles, using crushed charcoal to write hieroglyphics and creating some unique neckwear out of mosaic. The day was finished in style with a splendid Ancient Egyptian style feast.

Here are some of the highlights of the day…

“I really enjoyed making the scarab beetles as it was entertaining and fun” Kenadee

“Simply exquisite” Wayne

“It’s really hard to do beetles bit” Lewis

“I like the beetle one because it was fun carving it” Zariya

“It’s really fun helping Year 3 do their necklaces” Olly and Olivia (some of our wonderful Year 6 helpers)

Thanks to Megan and Emily (Year 6) for asking children for their thoughts of the day.

A huge thank you to all the parents who came in to help with the day. We’d also like to say a big thank you to the four Year 6 helpers who ran activities during the morning – well done Megan, Emily, Olivia and Olly.

Singing ringing out around the school

This week we had another exciting visit from our friends at Into Opera. This was a visit with a slightly different focus however. Usually the children are the centre of attention, but this visit was to help the teachers get even better at delivering singing sessions across the school. Jenny from Into Opera put on assemblies for the children in years 3/4 and years 5/6 in which they were told “You’re my resource, I’m going to use you to help make the teachers even better”. During the assembly everyone (children and staff) joined in with a variety of singing warm up activities and some amazing shared singing – it sounded amazing!

For the rest of the day, Jenny visited classes to help with singing workshops.

Here are what some of the children thought about the workshops…

“We liked the ‘bungalow’ game where we got to ask people ‘Say what?’ and then we got to do the bungalow dance. It was funny and good we all enjoyed singing” Billie and Eliza (Year 4)

“We really enjoyed the assembly. It was good fun making all the different noises with our mouths and then singing together. The best bit was all the actions” Leo, Charlie and Ava (Year 5)

The day ended with a whole staff training session on singing across the curriculum. As part of the arts' project, we are looking forward to including much more singing in classes.

Year 4 in the kitchen again!

Last week it was pizza, this week it’s cheese and onion pasties. Another week of exploring Year 4’s key DT questions of ‘What is in our food?’ and ‘Is cheap food worse for us?’. 4P were hard at work in the kitchen again finding out about nutrition and different recipes as well as investigating which foods are healthier and cheaper. Part of this DT unit is focused on looking at processed foods in our diets. Year 4 have been looking at which European countries eat the most processed food and if we should all be avoiding processed foods. The highlight of the unit is, of course, tasting all their ‘investigations’ and learning how to produce such amazing looking dishes. Next stop for our master chefs is bread rolls. We can’t wait to see how they turn out. If the pizza and pasties are anything to go by the bread rolls will be delicious - Paul Hollywood better look out!

Year 6 Hilltop update

Just over a month to go until our Year 6s head off to Hilltop. Preparations are in full swing and this week the Year 6 staff shared with the children the exciting activities they have in store for them at the end of June.

This year, they will be tackling the famous Air jump, testing their mettle on the Power Fan, taking part in team challenges, zooming down the 130m zip wire and exploring the Hilltop caves. 

More information about the trip, including activities, food and accomodation are on the Year 6 Google Classroom page.

If you have any questions please contact Mr Arthur: deputy@sprowstonjunior.norfolk.sch.uk

Key Dates - Summer term (those known so far)

Looking ahead to the rest of the summer term, we thought is was worthwhile sharing some of the key dates with you that we have so far:

21st June - Year 6 Hilltop Residential 

27th June - City Sports Heats

28th June - Year 6 at Norfolk Show

29th June - City Sports Finals 

30th June - Year 3 visit to West Runton

4th July - Year 6 performance of Matilda (evening)

5th July - Year 6 performance of Matilda (Matinee)

6th July - Year 6 performance of Matilda (evening)

7th July - Friends' Summer Fete 

11th July - Year 3/4 Sports Day (am)

13th Juiy - Sprowston Academy transition day

13th July - Leavers' Disco & BBQ 

14th July - Sprowston Academy transition day 

17th July - Year 5/6 Sports Day (am)

19th July - Leavers' Assembly (9-10am)